


Human Touch

by AsexualMagneto



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Asexual Character, Cuddling & Snuggling, Demisexual Castiel, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-22
Updated: 2014-11-22
Packaged: 2018-02-26 13:19:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2653400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AsexualMagneto/pseuds/AsexualMagneto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cas is a professional cuddler, and Dean is a war veteran who finds that one of the only times he feels relaxed is in Cas's arms.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Human Touch

**Author's Note:**

> Short ficlet for tumblr user caswitch.

Dean hadn’t been too sure about the whole “professional cuddler” thing when Sam revealed he’d booked the whole thing behind his back. Seriously, his little brother had been a mother friggin hen since he’d come back from the war with a broken leg and a habit of not sleeping through the night. But seriously, who the hell hires a professional cuddler? Dean was pretty sure the experience would turn out to be either incredibly girly or some fancy kind of prostitution.

But for some reason, he LIKED Castiel. When they met for a short while in his comfortably-decorated modern home, Dean had been surprised to find he relaxed the instant the guy reached forward and squeezed his shoulder reassuringly. He had a way of smiling with his eyes that seemed like he was happy on a soul-deep level, and the feeling that Dean could do that just by meeting with the guy sat warmly in his chest. The way he explained the whole cuddling business made it not weird at all. In fact, Dean left feeling more weirded out by society and its strange aversion to comforting touches, like the ones he’d been privy to here and there throughout their chat.

Dean wouldn’t admit that he was nervous when he showed up for his first cuddling session, but Cas was so relaxed and comfortable guiding Dean to lay his head on his chest that it didn’t really matter. As soon as Cas started absently running his hands through Dean’s hair, oh god, he was out cold.

The second time Dean showed up he was a bit more determined not to sleep soundly through his entire 90 minute session and maybe, y’know, get to know Cas a bit more. Well, that was what he intended to do, but instead ended up mumbling into Cas’s shoulder all about his nightmares, and how he jumps when he hears loud noises, and can feel a panic attack building whenever he’s in wide-open spaces with no nearby cover, and how he still thinks about Benny and Bobby and Jo and all the friends he’d managed to out-live, and if he cried a little bit nobody was going to mention it. Cas listened silently and rubbed soothing circles into Dean’s back.

The last time Dean felt like crying for an entirely different reason. Sammy had only booked three sessions, and it wasn’t like Dean had a ton of extra money to go spending on therapeutic cuddling, and oh god how was he supposed to explain to Cas that he was the only person he felt safe enough around to relax into his comfort and stop looking over his shoulder every ten seconds? How will he explain to Cas how much he means to Dean already?

He does manage to get some answers out of Cas - how he was raised away from physical comfort but then in college studied brain and cognitive science and travelled the world to discover a variety of cultures that valued non-sexual touch. He also got some personal tidbits too - things like Cas’s love for insects and gardening (that would explain the beautiful landscaping visible outside the glass back wall, as well as the flowers scattered in vases throughout the room), the fact that he had two little wing tattoos on his shoulderblades that he didn’t usually show anyone, and his weakness for organic coffee, nice-smelling soaps, and honey. Most personal of all, he explained how he was demisexual - a sexuality on the ace spectrum, where sexual attraction doesn't exist without an emotional bond - and how that drove his passion to spread awareness and acceptance of non-sexual human touch. To Cas, these sort of touches were just as comforting as they were to Dean.

Dean was laying behind Cas with his arms wrapped around him, face buried in the back of his neck, when the gentle chimes of the alarm clock signaled their 90 minutes were up. Cas reached forward to turn it off and Dean, groaning, shifted to get up off the couch, but Cas caught his arm.

"Cas, aren’t we-" Dean began.

"Stay for a bit," Cas murmured, pulling Dean’s arms tighter around himself. He did the eye-smile over his shoulder at him. "I wasn’t done talking with you."


End file.
